From 'The Conversation': 'They're causing real harm': Kevin Hassett on the Dems' shutdown standoff

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Daily News, Politics, Government

3.9 • 699 Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kevin Hassett is the director of the National Economic Council and arguably the economist closest to President Donald Trump. Right now, he’s also one of the top advisers tasked with explaining the economic fallout of the government shutdown and forging a path forward. Hassett joins POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for this week’s episode of The Conversation, where he talks about the shutdown standoff on Capitol Hill, when Americans should start feeling the benefits of Trump’s big tax bill and how the trade wars may affect the midterms. “The really striking thing is that the place where the tariff policy effects should be the worst is the time right now where we have almost 4 percent growth and low inflation,” Hassett says. “We're very, very optimistic about how this policy is working and what it's gonna look like.” And, Hassett digs into the buzz surrounding whether or not he will be Trump’s pick to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Plus, Shark Tank judge and investor Kevin O’Leary comes on the show to explain why he’s bullish on the TikTok deal news, bearish on the federal government’s investment in Intel and how he’s grading Trump 2.0’s economic performance so far.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today's episode is sponsored by pharma.
0:02.7	Pharma member companies are answering President Trump's call to put America first.
0:07.2	As part of the biopharmaceutical industry's commitment to American patients and workers,
0:12.2	they are making historic investments in U.S.-based manufacturing and infrastructure,
0:16.5	providing financial assistance to millions of patients, and will be launching America'smedicons.com, which will connect patients and businesses with manufacturer direct purchase
0:26.0	programs. Learn more at Americasmedicines.com. And I think that right now, hearing from my
0:32.5	moderate democratic friends, that there's a lot of movement to get this thing over with fast.
0:38.4	Hello, hello, and welcome to The Conversation.
0:41.8	I'm Dasha Burns, White House Bureau Chief for Politico.
0:44.6	And every week on this show, I invite one of the most compelling power players in Washington
0:50.4	and beyond in for a chat to talk about how they're navigating and shaping this
0:56.1	incredible era of American politics. And my friends, this has been quite a week. It started
1:02.1	with a press conference that I attended with President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
1:07.5	Netanyahu. They announced a 20-point peace plan between Israel and Hamas.
1:12.8	Should Hamas choose to accept it?
1:14.8	It also included a future outlook for Gaza.
1:18.4	The question now, will Hamas accept that deal?
1:21.2	The president did warn that if they don't, he will give BB Netanyahu the green light to do, quote,
1:27.0	whatever he needs to do
1:28.3	in Gaza.
1:29.3	Then Secretary Hegeseth gathered America's top military brass all together here in Washington, D.C.
1:36.0	To listen to him and President Trump talk for quite some time all about America's military might
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from POLITICO, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of POLITICO and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.